FORENSIC investigations of computers allegedly used to send racist emails have suggested the fire service suspects are victims of a hoax.

Last month the Fire Brigades Union lodged an official complaint against fire authority chairman Jerry Willmott and chief fire officer Andy Goves, pictured right, claiming they had exchanged racist emails.

These were then released to the media.

Both men have strongly denied the allegations.

They come in the wake of a bitter rift between fire service staff in Marlborough and fire HQ in Potterne, which led to suspension and resignation of station commander Dave Ward and the arrest of five firefighters.

An exhaustive investigation carried out by Kroll Ontrack, an independent electronic discovery specialist, said it believed the pair were victims of a malicious hoax intended to implicate them in the use of racist language.

Kroll Ontrack carried out investigations on Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service computers used by Mr Goves and the personal computer of Coun Willmott.

It found that the racist email purporting to have been written by Coun Willmott on January 9 last year, and a reply allegedly from Mr Goves, dated January 11, did not exist on either computer.

The investigations revealed that the original email, supposedly sent from Mr Goves to Coun Willmott, was probably a crude "cut-and-paste" hoax created in a bid to damage their reputations.

Despite having been allegedly sent from his home computer, Coun Willmott's email carried the embedded Fire And Rescue Service "footer" automatically added to all emails sent from within WFRS.

It suggested to the investigator that the email was put together elsewhere.

Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority clerk and monitoring officer Keith Strickland said: "Allegations of improper conduct in this matter against CFO Goves cannot be sustained."

The results of the forensic investigations will now be forwarded to the Standards Board, which is conducting an investigation.

The Fire Brigades Union was unavailable for comment.